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2011-08-15

Freezing Indoor Air Conditioning Temperature During Hotter Summer

An Amazing Scene in HK Summer: People Wearing Jackets Indoors

The former Secretary for the Environment, Sarah Liao, had been patiently promoting a 25.5 degrees air conditioning temperature. At first, many indoor facilities cooperated and complied with the guidance. But the situation got reverted gradually. This year, Green Sense received a record high number of complaints and reports regarding air conditioners keeping indoor temperatures unbearably low. Most reports were indoor temperatures at around 19 to 22 degrees, with the lowest at 18 degrees. Since the outdoor temperature was 30 degrees, the temperature difference was more than 10 degrees. Experts, including the Assistant Director of the Hong Kong Observatory Mr. Leung Wing-mo and family doctor Betty Kwan Ka Mei were part of this press conference, hoping to raise the awareness of government, enterprises, companies and citizens about the negative impacts that the abuse of air conditioning can bring to the environment and human health.

Green Sense is concerned the abuse of air conditioning which cause ridiculously low indoor temperatures.  First, an air conditioner bringing an indoor temperature extremely low uses a lot of energy. The major method of generating electricity today is still by burning fossil fuels which contributes to greenhouse effect. Second, most of the air conditioning systems in Hong Kong are air-cooled systems which release a lot of heat during operation. This worsens the heat island effect in the city. Third, when the indoor temperatures are too low, human health is negatively impacted. Diseases can spread swiftly under such cold environment.

From June till now, we have received 37 reports regarding exceptionally low air conditioning temperatures. Besides traditional places blamed for being too cold such as air conditioned buses and malls, new places are now being complained about, such as the Hong Kong Judiciary, meeting rooms in hotels and hospitals.  Tung Chung Line of MTR is one of the ‘black spots’ for which we have received many citizen complaints.

In some cases, the air conditioning system was set up poorly. In order to prevent the users from complaining, the management company purposely turned the air conditioners down to 21 to 23 degrees. Furthermore, the interior of the building could have undergone so many changes that the original air conditioning system failed accordingly. So, the management company would resort to lowering the temperature of the whole system to make sure that every area of the building is cool.

Gabrielle Ho, the project manager of Green Sense, says that the abuse of air conditioning causing low temperatures is mainly due to some citizens’ dependence and using habits. She says, “Some people want to feel cool immediately after walking into a room. But the temperature difference between outdoors and indoors is often greater than 10 degrees, and they don’t realize that the body needs time to adopt such drastic temperature changes. Moreover, air conditioning consumed huge amount of energy and it also takes a toll on the health of their bodies. Therefore it is harmful for both the environment and human. Sometimes, women, the elderly, children and lightly dressed people are forced to wear extra clothing to stay warm.”

Ho added, “I understand that air conditioning temperature is a very contentious topic, so we recommend an indoor temperature of 25.5 degrees as a benchmark for citizens to follow. The temperature range between 24 degrees and 25 degrees is acceptable, but it should not be lower than 23 degrees.”

A few years ago, the government and various green groups have urged people to dress lightly when going to work, yet there are still common situations where people wearing jackets in air-conditioned venues.  We observed that in some hotels and malls, staff wear heavy jackets and ties as their regular uniform, even during the summer. If companies allow workers to dress lightly in response to hot summer weather, they can help fulfill their environmental responsibility, and it would be fine if air conditioners are operating at 24 to 25 degrees.

 

Number of Cases Green Sense Responded to & Taken Action

Total Reports & Complains Received: 37

Number of Cases Green Sense Responded to & Taken Action with: 29

Number of Reports	Date of Measurement	Area of Complain(s)	Temperature	The Situation of the Local Management Office’s Response to the Problem
1	10/6/11	Tsuen Wan Plaza Xia Mian Guan	19-20.5 °C	Reminded shop keeper to be more aware of the indoor temperature.
1	25/7/11 (Date of Complaint)	A Commercial Building in Kwun Tong	Reported to be 17-20 °C (Cannot verify because of private property)	Management office says the commercial building’s air conditioning system is only responsible for delivering cool air, the system responsible for the cold indoor temperature is controlled by the tenants.
1	1/8/11	Café de Central, next to Cheung Kong Centre	18-20 °C	Shop workers can only turn the washroom air conditioning system on or off, but can’t control the temperature. They arranged air conditioner technicians to examine the system and adjust it to around 25.5 degrees.
1	3/8/11	Tung Chung Citygate Outlets Mall	22.6°C	The management office claims they have made measurements and investigations in different parts of the mall, and their temperature records fall between their expected and accepted range of 23 to 25°C.
1	3/8/11	Cheung Sha Wan Road KFC	20°C	Claim that they will follow up on the complaint.
1	8/8/11	A Commercial Building in Kowloon Bay	Reported to be 21 °C (Cannot verify because of private property)	Management office claim they frequently measure the temperature of the shared areas within the building, to find it fall between 24-25°. However, since the indoor temperatures of the offices are adjusted by tenants, they do not have a clear understanding of specific cases.
1	14/6/11	Central Plaza	22.5°C	No reply from management office so far.
1	19/6/11	Queen’s Road Central Ajisen Ramen	20-21°C	No reply from management office so far.
2	26/7/11	Joint Publishing in Tsuen Wan and Wan Chai	20-21°C (Temperatures for the two areas were checked on the same day)	No reply from management office so far.
1	5/8/11	L’hotel Conference Hall	21.6°C	No reply from management office so far.
1	8/8/11	JW Marriot Hotel Conference Hall	21.6°C	No reply from management office so far.
1	4/8/11	Ocean Park Waterfront Gifts	19.3-20.9°C	Claim that they will follow up on the case.
2	26/7/11	Kwai Fong Metroplaza	21.5-22.9°C	Claim that they will follow up on the case.
1	26/7/11	Tsuen Wan Yoshinoya	19.4°C	Claim that they will follow up on the case.
1	12/8/11	Labour Tribunal (Court 8)	21°C	Recently contacted them, awaiting reply
1	20/6/11	Tsuen Wan Adventist Hospital	20.8-20.9°C	We will contact them soon.
1	4/6/11	Causeway Bay Ocean Empire Food Shop	20.5°C	We will contact them soon.
1	5/8/11	Computer-controlled trains in Airport	Refer to remark	We will contact them soon.
2	4/8/11	Tsuen Wan Luk Yeung Galleria	21°C	We will contact them soon.
1	14/8/11	Tsuen Wan Plaza	21°C	We will contact them soon.
4	2/8/11	MTR Tung Chung Line	20.8-21.8°C	We will contact and make an appointment with them soon.
2	8/6/11	MTR West Rail Line	19.8°C	We will contact and make an appointment with them soon.

Remark: The train in the Airport is in restricted area. We cannot bring in our metal-type thermometer. Our colleague took that train when she visited the relative in another country. She finds really cool.

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